Charles William Hargens, Jr. (1893−1997) was an American painter. He created over 3000 covers for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, Country Gentleman, Farm Journal, Boys' Life, The Open Road for Boys, along with advertisements for companies such as Coca-Cola and covers for over 300 books, including the Zane Grey Western novels of the 1930s and 1940s. He worked for over 80 years and died on January 30, 1997, at 103 years of age. He is buried at Glenside Cemetery in Montgomery County Pennsylvania. Early life Hargens was born in Hot Springs, South Dakota, the son of a country doctor. When he was 6 years old he was making charcoal drawings of houses and barns. People took notice of his work and started paying him for his pieces; if they could tell what he was drawing they would pay him 25 cents for it. When he was eight years old his parents separated. He was 10 when he moved with his mother back to Omaha and Council Bluffs area. He would spend the summers with his father in Hot Springs and traveling with him to Chicago where he would spend his days at the Art Institute while his father conducted business. Back in Council Bluffs during the winter months, he began to take art classes in high school and worked in the studio of a portrait painter. As a teenager he belonged to a group led by Ernest Thompson Seton that was a forerunner to the Boy Scouts program. Later life and work Hargens studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. When he first arrived the first instructor he met was Daniel Garber. Barber recognized the talent Hargens showed. He invited Hargens, as was his custom with students, to come to his home in Lumberville to paint with him on the weekends. Charles Hargens was the recipient of the Cresson Scholoarship to study in Paris. While in Paris he enrolled in the Carolossi and Julian Academy. He traveled Europe visiting the great museums. After he returned to the United States he settled in Philadelphia and his career started to take off. Artists and publishers would specifically request him because of his attention to detail. He worked on book jackets, magazine illustrations and advertisements for the likes of Stetson Hat Company and Coca-Cola. Some of the magazines that he did illustrations for were The Saturday Evening